Isaiah Thomas is now a Cleveland Cavalier. In a move that sent shockwaves across the NBA, Thomas and a package that included Brooklyn’s first round pick in 2018 were shipped to Northern Ohio in exchange for Kyrie Irving. It’s a massive move, one that involves the two best teams in the Eastern Conference coming to terms.
But one thing to remember is that we may not see Thomas on opening night against the Celtics. In fact, it may take a while until we see Thomas take the floor next season. Chris Mannix of The Vertical reminded hoops fans that we won’t know when Thomas will be able to play until September when he has a scan on his hip.
Worth noting: Boston, as Brad Stevens said on @TheVertical Pod, still waiting on a September scan to determine when IT available next season
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) August 22, 2017
It seems like it took place years ago, but let’s go back to the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals between Boston and Cleveland. The Cavs took a 2-0 lead after a pair of games in Beantown, and it seemed inevitable that they were going to move on to the Finals.
So prior to Game 3, Thomas got shut down for the remainder of the postseason because of a hip injury. He reportedly suffered the injury early in the postseason and re-aggravated it during Game 2, leading to the team deciding it was for the best to keep their MVP candidate sidelined for the rest of the playoffs. A more skeptical person might say this was the Celtics waving the white flag, but things had to have been really bad for Thomas to get sidelined during a playoff series.
Thomas didn’t need surgery on the hip, but there are still apparent concerns about his ability to be healthy opening night. Hopefully he’s able to play right away, because he’s a really fun basketball player and it sucks whenever anyone gets hurt, but the Cavs have to at least prepare for the possibility that he’s not ready to go for the opener against his old team.
